Lisa Watts > Latham & Watkins LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
Latham & Watkins LLP Offices

1271 Avenue of the Americas
NEW YORK
NY 10020
United States
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Lisa Watts

Position
Lisa Watts, Vice Chair of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, focuses on the development of the firm’s strategic direction and manages its global presence. In addition, she advises clients on corporate and partnership taxation. Lisa brings more than two decades of experience with complex transactional tax issues to her work advising clients.
Lisa regularly serves private equity firms, US-based and foreign public and private companies, REITs and UPREITs, partnerships and limited liability companies, as well as investment banks.
Specifically, Lisa helps clients navigate the tax aspects of significant US and cross-border transactions, including:
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- Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
- Joint ventures
- Recapitalizations
- Public financings, including initial public offerings
- Corporate restructurings
Lisa handles a broad range of transactional tax matters, with experience advising clients on all matter of M&A transactions, through the dual-track process, offering enhanced flexibility when planning an exit transaction, as well as clients contemplating an up-C structure. Lisa also has considerable experience advising on sophisticated transactions involving special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC).
Select private equity clients include:
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- ArcLight Capital
- Consonance Capital Partners
- One Equity Partners
- Onex Partners
- Platinum Equity
- Riverstone Holdings
- Shamrock Capital Advisors
- Silver Lake Partners
- The Blackstone Group
Select public companies and privately owned corporation clients include:
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- CoreSite Realty Corporation
- Cotiviti Holdings, Inc.
- Endeavor
- Landmark Health
- Moran Foods, LLC
- Siemens AG
- Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc.
- Toys “R” Us, Inc.
Accolades
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- Named a Dealmaker of the Year by New York Law Journal 2021
- Named to the Notable Women in Law list by Crain’s New York Business 2020 and 2022
- Recommended for US Taxes: Non-contentious by The Legal 500 US 2020
- Recommended for M&A/Corporate and Commercial – PE Buyouts by The Legal 500 US 2020
- Ranked for New York: Tax by Chambers USA 2018-2022
- Named a Law360 2019 Tax MVP
- “One of the most intelligent attorneys with an encyclopedic knowledge of tax law and a unique ability to express complex issues and structure in digestible terms. She is an invaluable resource in working through and suggesting solutions for often complicated, problematic tax and structural issues.” The Legal 500 US 2020
- “She advocates well for her clients, she’s commercial in addressing issues and she’s a pleasure to work with.” Chambers USA 2020
Career
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Insurance > Advice to policyholders
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- International trade and national security > CFIUS
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Finance > Fintech
- Real estate > Land use/zoning
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Finance > Project finance
- Real estate > Real estate
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Industry focus > Sport
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: regulatory
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: transactions
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- International trade and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Government > Government contracts
- Insurance > Insurance: non-contentious
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Healthcare > Health insurers
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism